How ChatGPT chooses which local business to recommend
When someone asks ChatGPT for a local business, it usually searches the web, reads a handful of pages about businesses in that area, and names the two or three it can say the most about with confidence. It favours businesses whose own websites answer the exact question, whose details match across the web, and who are well reviewed. OpenAI doesn't publish a ranking formula, so the practical approach is to make your business the easiest one to describe accurately.
What happens when someone asks
For a question like "who's a good emergency plumber in Leeds?", ChatGPT normally runs a web search instead of answering from memory. OpenAI says its search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, is what surfaces websites in ChatGPT's search features, and that ChatGPT can use location information to find local results.
It then reads what it found, typically your website, your Google and directory listings, review sites and local articles, and writes an answer naming a few businesses. The sources it used are usually shown under the answer, which is the best evidence of what it relied on.
- Asked
“Who's a good emergency plumber in Leeds?”
- Searches the webWebsitesGoogle profilesDirectoriesReviewsLocal news
- Weighs what it found
- Answers the exact question?
- Details match everywhere?
- Well reviewed?
- Names two or three
- Kirkstall Plumbing & Heating
- Roundhay Rapid Repairs
- Aire Valley Plumbers
What makes a business easy to recommend
An AI answer has to be specific and has to be right. Businesses get named when the model can say something concrete about them, and leave it out when the details are thin or contradict each other. In practice that means:
- A page on your site that answers the exact question: "emergency call-outs", "Invisalign", "private dining for 12", not one long list of everything you do.
- Facts it can quote: areas covered, opening hours, prices or from-prices, whether you're taking new customers.
- The same name, address, phone number and hours on your website, Google Business Profile and directories.
- Plenty of recent reviews on Google and on the review sites your trade uses.
- Mentions elsewhere: local news, trade bodies, "best of" round-ups, community forums.
Things that quietly rule a business out
Some problems stop ChatGPT from using a site at all. Check these first:
- robots.txt or a firewall blocking OAI-SearchBot. OpenAI says sites opted out of OAI-SearchBot won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers.
- A website that only shows its text after JavaScript runs. Crawlers that don't run JavaScript see an empty page.
- Prices, menus or services only in PDFs or images.
- Opening hours that differ between your site and Google.
How to check where you stand
Ask ChatGPT the questions your customers ask, with search on, several times, and note who it names and which sources it shows. Answers vary from one ask to the next, so one result proves little; the pattern over several asks is what matters. Our free tools check the technical side, and the free full check does the asking for you across five AI tools.
Written by the Get Recommended team, run by Atlas Labs. We check these guides against each AI tool's own documentation and update them when it changes.
Questions
Can I pay ChatGPT to recommend my business?
No. There's no paid placement in ChatGPT's answers. Anyone selling guaranteed ChatGPT recommendations is overpromising.
Does blocking GPTBot stop ChatGPT recommending me?
No. GPTBot is for training. OpenAI says OAI-SearchBot controls whether you appear in ChatGPT search answers, and the two are set separately.
How long do changes take to show?
It varies from days to a couple of months, depending on when your pages are next crawled and how often the question is asked. Re-check monthly rather than daily.